Icon Airflite motorcycle crash helmet review

Icon Airflite: funky all rounder helmet with innovative visor system.

Take the Icon Airflite. It’s a polycarbonate all-rounder helmet that’s designed to work for pretty well any purpose going (except maybe the track). Which often means… well… a bit dull, right?

But not so with Icon. Not only is the Airflite available in lots of funky, borderline outrageous, graphics. But they’ve added a faintly bonkers visor setup to it that’s almost twice as deep as your average visor and clips onto the bottom of the chin guard.

I guess in the fully-up position it kinda acts like a sun peak/roost guard too (maybe that’s the point?).

Like I said, Icon like to do things a bit different.

Personally, I like different. But is it different for different’s sake or different and better?

So, here’s a look over the Icon Airflite and see what it offers for your money.

Polycarbonate all-rounder helmet

Rear view of the Airflite Rubatone

Drop down sun visor

Large, anti-fog main visor

Double-D ring fastener

Quick change visor

1.7Kg (3.75lbs) – slightly heavier than avg

Sizes XS-XXXL

Expect to pay £210-£250

Looking to buy an Icon Helmet?

We recommend either Sportsbikeshop (UK) or FC Moto (Ger) for decent service and the widest range of helmets. Please click any link to see their full range and latest prices, or see here for more info on these retailers.

Safety

It’s been both ECE approved and DOT certified (for the US market), meaning you can be confident it’ll give you some decent protection if you ever (God forbid) hit the deck. And to make sure you get the right amount of EPS lining to helmet size, Icon produce it in 3 shell sizes. That’s good.

That massive main visor isn’t Pinlock-ready (boo), but it does come with Icon’s own anti-fog treatment which I found surprisingly effective (more in visor section below).

We always look at SHARP safety test results where possible, but Icon helmets are fairly new to SHARP testing so it’s difficult to pick out any patterns. In fact they’ve only had three helmets tested to date with an average score of 3 stars.

Helmet Noise

There’s a decent amount of padding inside the Airflite but there’s also lots of ventilation channels and some decent sized vent holes too, all of which can let noise into a helmet.

Early impressions from owners across the web are that it seems to be about average for helmet noise. I tried an Airflite and while I always ride wearing some of our recommended ear plugs, I found it to be very similar to something like the HJC IS 17 which is pretty good for noise suppression.

Ventilation

There’s a big, fat, central vent in the chin guard which directs air around the mouth and up onto the back of the visor.

It’s designed to mimic motocross helmets that have a large central vent with a cleanable filter in there but in the case of the Airflite, the main visor actually drops down to cover the chin guard vent, with the holes in the visor letting air through even when it’s fully closed.

You can’t see it in the pictures, but you actually close the vent using a slider on the inside of the guard which, despite being inside the helmet and meaning you’ve gotta navigate the non-removable chin curtain to get to it, it actually isn’t too difficult to access while riding.

Unusually for a helmet with a sun visor that retracts right where forehead vents go, Icon has managed to put a couple of forehead vents into the helmet and route the channels past the sun visor.

Those forehead vents are covered by large sliders that are very glove-friendly. And they’re fairly straight forward to use – though not as easy as single vents, until you get the hang of using your finger and thumb to open them both simultaneously.

Visor

The visor on the Icon Airflite is probably the most unusual part of the helmet.

It extends down really deep and has a grille set into it that semi-covers the chin vent when the visor’s closed. The bottom of the visor then locks into place on the bottom of the chin guard.

It’s an unusual setup that looks cool and works well too. It’s easy to close and lock the visor in place and it’s easy to push the bottom of the visor with your thumb to unlock it and open the visor back up.

It’s also a very quick release visor too. You prise off the side pods using a couple of fingers at the top and pull till they feel like they’re gonna break. And once they pull off, all you have to do is open the visor until it springs off its mounts. That’s it. Great bit of design and makes for a really easy way to pull off the visor for cleaning.

Good Fortune graphics

Or for swapping out for the replacement smoked visor that comes free in the box.

The visor also has Icon’s own anti-fog treatment on it. We’re not usually a fan of factory anti-fog treatments and regularly extol the virtues of Pinlocks instead.

So we were really surprised at how effective the Icon fog-free FliteShield visor was at stopping fogging. In fact it seemed about as effective as a Pinlock on our test journeys, though admittedly it wasn’t particularly cold or humid when we tried it. But in the absence of a Pinlock, Icon’s treatment seems very good.

Whether it’ll last or not after a few washes, we can’t say at this stage.

Sun Visor

The sun visor on the Airflite is operated by a slider right behind the left hand visor pivot and we found it drops down nice and low and was pretty easy to use. It’s a bit stiff to get the sun visor moving at first – part of the mechanism to stop the sun visor dropping down when you don’t want it to – but once you get the hang of it, it works a treat.

Like most sun visors, it’s not anti-fog so if it’s cold, don’t expect it to stay mist-free when you drop it down. But when we used it riding into the sun and things had warmed up a little, it was about average tint meaning it was dark enough to cut out most of the sun and let us ride along without distraction.

I found it a tight squeeze to get the Airflite on, but once there it was bang on in terms of fitment and comfort – giving my head a gentle squeeze without any pressure points.

It’s designed to fit people with medium oval head shapes – so if your head’s oval rather than a rounder shape, it should be good for you.

And if you do buy one but find the fitment not quite right or needs some customising, thicker and thinner cheek pads are available from Icon to tailor the internal fitment.

Looks & Graphics

Icon ALWAYS paint their helmets in funky graphics and the Icon Airflite is no exception.

You can see the Airflite Fayder in the video below (also available in black/orange) and you’ll find the Krom Airflite further down this page in grey – again, there’s an orange version available too.

There’s also the delightfully bonkers Chinese Dragon inspired Airflite Good Fortune as well as a bunch of plainer but equally edgy graphics such as the Rubatone and Quicksilver. Oh, and of course there’s plain gloss white and black versions.

Click through to our recommended retailers to see the latest deals on all these designs as well as any others that’ve been released since we wrote the article.

Best places to buy an Icon crash helmet?

We've chosen some of the best places to buy from - whether it's an Icon or any other helmet/gear.

If you want piece of mind when you buy,SportsBikeShop is based in the UK and offers outstanding service (9.8/10 on Trustpilot) including 365 day refunds. They have competitive prices and are our recommended retailer for quality of service.

Or try FC-Moto who offer the widest range in Europe and score a decent 4/5 on Trustpilot (at the time of writing) - and are based in Germany. Though note, there's a delivery charge so factor that in (see here for details).

Please click any link to visit their Icon pages where you'll also find all their latest deals and designs. And if you buy from either, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS! (it's how we finance the site). Click here for more info on our recommended retailers.

Click to visit Icon at SportsBikeShopClick for Icon at FC Moto (then use site search)

Icon Airflite video

A ten minute tour of the Icon Airflite Fayder.

Other stuff – fasteners, audio, weight, chin curtain, warranty

The Airflite comes with a double-d ring fastener (easy to use old-style fasteners).

It has speaker pockets inside and enough room in the chin guard for a microphone.

It weighs in about 1.7Kg which is a bit heavier than your average polycarbonate helmet, though not too heavy to cause any discomfort.

Airflite Krom – also in orange/black

It comes with a removable chin curtain and non-removable breath guard fitted to the helmet.

Icon Airflites come with a standard 1 year warranty.

Overall/Summary

If you like the aggressive motocross-inspired looks and want a decent all rounder, then the Icon Airflite should fit the bill. It feels well built, has a quality quick-release visor system with a factory anti-fog coating that actually seems to work. It’s designed to work with medium oval heads and the removable/washable lining with spaces for comms unit speakers are all good quality. Couple that with an effective drop down sun visor and ventilation system and Icon seems to be onto a winner.

Good Alternatives to the Icon Airflite?

There’s some great full face helmets out there to suit a range of wallets.

The HJC FG-ST is a SHARP 5 star safety rated all rounder fibreglass full face with a drop down sun visor and Max Vision Pinlock anti-fog in the box. It’s around the same price as the Icon Airflite too.

Cheaper than the Icon is the Shark Ridill. That scored 4 stars for safety when tested by SHARP and its got a sun visor and Pinlock visor too. It’s also got a glasses groove for if you wear glasses/shades and comes with a 5 year warranty!

Or for a smidge more than the Icon, there’s the X-Lite X-702 GT. But for that extra, you get a SHARP 5 star safety rated composite fibre lid that’s rated as quiet and comfortable by owners.

Looking to buy an Icon Helmet?

We recommend either Sportsbikeshop (UK) or FC Moto (Ger) for decent service and the widest range of helmets. Please click any link to see their full range and latest prices, or see here for more info on these retailers.